“Suspenseful parallel lesbian love stories deftly illuminate important events in LGBTQ history” in the New York Times–bestselling author’s YA novel (Kirkus Reviews).In 1955, eighteen-year-old Janet Jones keeps the love she shares with her best friend Marie a secret. It’s not easy being gay in Washington, DC, in the age of McCarthyism, but when she discovers a series of books about women falling in love with other women, it awakens something in Janet. As she juggles a romance she must keep hidden and a newfound ambition to write and publish her own story, she risks exposing herself—and Marie—to a danger all too real.Sixty-two years later, Abby Zimet can’t stop thinking about her senior project and its subject—classic 1950s lesbian pulp fiction. Between the pages of her favorite book, the stresses of Abby’s own life are lost to the fictional hopes, desires, and tragedies of the characters she’s reading about. She feels especially connected to one author, a woman who wrote under the pseudonym “Marian Love,” and becomes determined to track her down and discover her true identity.In this novel told in dual narratives, New York Times–bestselling author Robin Talley weaves together the lives of two young women connected across generations through the power of words. A stunning story of bravery, love, how far we’ve come and how much farther we have to go.
No posts yet
Kick off the convo with a theory, question, musing, or update
Your rating:
0I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
1955 - 18 year old Janet Jones knows what her family expects of her: go to college and get married to a well-to-do man. The only problem is that Janet loves her best friend Marie. Marie and Janet have to hide their relationship though, living in Washington D.C. with a father involved in politics, Janet finds herself living a life full of secrets. Not only her love life, but also her aspirations to write a novel featuring lesbian characters.
2017 - Senior in high school Abby is feeling all kinds of uninspired about the remaining months of high school. She knows that she has projects to finish, and colleges to apply to, but she can’t get herself to focus on any one thing. To start, her love Linh doesn’t seem to want to be with her after the two broke up last school year. Then, Abby’s home life seems to be in shambles; her parents avoid one another like the plague and she feels like the inevitable is on the horizon.
The one way that Abby finds solace and then inspiration is from a lesbian pulp fiction novel by an author named Marian Love. Abby quickly becomes obsessed with finding out who Marian Love was, and what inspired her to write her novel. Along the way hunting for answers, Abby starts to write her own novel paying tribute the pulp novels of the 1950s. In her search for answers though, Abby starts to learn so much more about herself, and in the end the mystery that surrounds Marian Love takes her on a journey she never knew she could go on.
I’m so glad I stuck with this book. I had a super hard time consistently reading this book. There wasn’t any one reason I wasn’t picking this up to read it, but in the end, I couldn’t put this book down. The novel goes between 1955 and Janet’s story, and 2017 with Abby’s story. Both young women are lesbian and navigating what this means for them. It is easy to see how the two stories connect, but Talley has a wild ride for the readers that I felt didn’t really pick up until I’d read about 70% of the book. There might not be as much wide appeal, but I do think this is a great novel to have in all libraries. Highly recommended.
0
© 2024 Pagebound